MC may sell 400 shops to tide over crisis

PATIALA, FEB 28: The cash-strapped Patiala Municipal Corporation is planning to sell over 400 shops in different parts of the city with a...

PATIALA, FEB 28: The cash-strapped Patiala Municipal Corporation is planning to sell over 400 shops in different parts of the city with a view to tiding over the financial crisis.

The corporation has to pay a hefty Rs 4.75 crore on account of provident fund arrears and has to clear bank loans amounting to about Rs 1.50 crore. It also has to cover the liability of Rs one crore to be paid as arrears to contractors who undertook execution of development works on the assurance of receiving the pending dues. Besides, the MC has to repay Rs 50 lakh worth of loans taken from the Haryana Urban Development Corporation HUDCO and the Life Insurance Corporation of India LIC.

According to informed sources in the corporation, the existing municipal rules state that rented property cannot be sold to the tenant and can only be disposed of through public auction. But the state government is believed to be taking a lenient view and may relax this condition, making the tenantseligible to purchase the shops that they have been occupying for decades.

According to conservative estimates, the MC is expected to earn over Rs 12 crore through the sale of these shops.

A committee, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner, has been constituted to fix the rates for the sale of rented shops. Other members of the committee include the corporation Commissioner, the Deputy Director of Local Bodies and the Divisional Town Planner.

According to sources, the corporation is presently receiving only nominal rent from a large number of tenants and the sale of these shops could enable it to earn an amount almost equivalent to the rent by way of house tax.

Meanwhile, the corporation has also initiated plans to sell about 187 plots and land sites in different parts of the city, with a view to mopping up additional resources.

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Sources said that most of these sites had been given on lease to private parties, but during the tenure of the elected municipal committees, they were granted permission to construct buildings on these sites and the building plans were duly approved by the committee.

MC Commissioner Harkesh Singh Sidhu said that the corporation was seeking opinions from the present shop tenants on whether they would be willing to buy the shops at the minimum reserve price fixed for the purpose.